Atlanta Housing Market Slowdown on its Way

ATLANTA, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, today released its first-ever in-depth analysis on housing market conditions focusing specifically on the Atlanta metro area. After a year of uncharacteristically steep home-price growth, several factors indicate that the Atlanta housing market can no longer support double-digit growth rates, and the market will most likely see a sustained slowdown by the end of this year.

The report shows:

Mortgage rate increases priced some buyers out of the market, a likely cause for the dip in August home sales. Rates are likely to continue to rise as the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program winds down. In an August survey, nearly 30% of Redfin buyers looking for a home in Atlanta said that they would "step back" or "stop" their home search if mortgage rates rose above 5%.

Investors are leaving the market, with the number of homes purchased by firms decreasing from 28% to 23% of sales.

Sellers are accepting lower prices, with Redfin buyers paying an average of 5% below list price compared to 1% below a year ago.

New construction will ease inventory shortages. As of July, Atlanta had issued the third largest number of new residential building permits in the country in 2013.

About Redfin 'Local Insights' ReportRedfin Local Insights is based on interviews with local Redfin agents, statistics compiled from the Multiple Listing Service, public record sales data, and Redfin's Offer Insights, which are statistics and anecdotes about winning and losing offers made by Redfin agents for their home-buying clients.

About RedfinRedfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Twitter (@redfin), and Facebook (facebook.com/redfin).